Brand new reloader here, questions on the dies, confused.

[Big_Bullseye]

Rick - Looks nice and you have lots of stuff there. On the reloading dies I went ahead and bought 3 die sets for everything that I am going to reload which includes a full length resizing die as well as just a neck sizing die.

I'm gonna hold off on the sheetrock as this house is going on the market next year and we are building our dream home on some acreage that I got screwed on, oh I mean bought last year. Where I bought, land is outragously priced but that is where my bride wants to live and I do to really but if we would have gone 15 miles west instead of 15 miles east I would have been able to get 150 acres for the same price that I paid for 11 acres. Anyway to my point the house plans actually have a neat little space between the garage and back porch designated the fly tying shop. I'm going to change that and call it the master reloaders quarters...... and dedicate it to my reloading activities. Either that or increase the size of my regular office in the finished basement to include a "back room" for reloading. But I already have my downstairs office plans drawn up and I am putting in a fireproof vault behind the bookshelves with a hidden vault door to house my ever growing gun collection. Hey what the heck, my wife is designing theeekitchen and master bath so I might as well spen some of my hard earned money on my man spaces......

Thanks again to everybody for all the help. If all goes right I should be loading some rounds in a few weeks, right now I am reading the Hornady reloading handbook and trying to make some sense of it all and I have a local guy who I met on Missouri Whitetails that is going to give me some lessons at his house.....

[Jersey Hunter]

http://home.earthlink.net/~dannewberry/ ... t/id7.html
Check the above link I think it may help you.
Good Luck,

[CooperRandall]

Rick....... You just might be my new hero. My man cave looks more like a man hole compared to yours. Very nice.

[brokeasajoke]

acloco, what kind of indicator are you using that reads to tenthousanths???

[acloco]

acloco, what kind of indicator are you using that reads to tenthousanths???

Dial indicator.....starrett. Yes....I AM splitting hairs....if the needle moves, it is 0.0002. If the needle moves halfway to the next mark, then call it 0.0005".

After you resize a couple hundred sets of connecting rods, measuring with a dial indicator that does measure in the ten thou...for out of round AND taper....you get the feel for it.

[gwglave]

Big_Bullseye,
You've gotten a lot of good input on buying and setting up your reloading goodies. acloco gave you great advice on the Forester Co-Ax press. That's what I use as well. Here's a couple of things that no one else has mentioned.

When you get a new die set, the manufacturer loads them up with a heavy oil or grease so that they wil not rust while setting on a retailers shelf somewhere. Disassemble each die and thoroughly clean all the gunk out of the dies using a good solvent. Dry them thoroughly and then lightly oil them before use. I use Hoppe's #9 to get rid of all the manufacturers gunk. If you leave the gunk on the inside of the sizing dies, you run the risk of making some sizeable dents in the casing usually in the sholder area (don't ask how I know this!).

Secondly, both Redding and RCBS make a universal decapping die. I bought the Redding set since it has a large and small decapping die. I use an old Rock Chucker press exclusively for decapping all my cases. By doing this you keep all that fired primer residue out of your Co-Ax press and your sizing dies. It makes for a much cleaner operation.

As you have probably already figured out, loading your own ammunition is a very rewarding activity. Hiding away in the man cave for a few hours and assembling some "match" ammo is the best therapy you can get.

Good luck and let us know how you're progressing.

Rgds, Gerry